It’s December 31, 2014 here in the Philippines. As I type, there is less than 22 hours left before Day 1 of 2015 arrives. My parents and I would probably celebrate the same way we did for Christmas 2014 – eat food and watch fireworks. The main difference, though, is that the fireworks for New Year’s Eve are grander than that of Christmas. I should know – I love fireworks and I wait for them every year!

The Sports Center near my place has a fireworks display show every year. From what I could recall, they had last year’s fireworks show at around ten to eleven PM. I assumed they would schedule it similarly this year, but I ended up craning my neck to check my desk-side window after every few minutes if they started. Wearing headphones while waiting wasn’t the best idea, but I was listening to some awesome songs I found on YouTube yesterday. The sound of explosion would be audible even though I wore headphones, but I wanted to watch the show from the very beginning.

Cue 12:22 AM, 31 December 2014. I checked my window again and – OH. MY. FIREWORKS. My parents fell asleep early and they wanted me to wake them up when the show started. Of course, I wasn’t the type to wake them up with a scream. Well, the noise I made was probably that of a running ostrich mixed with the screech of a cat when its tail gets stepped on.

And then we watched. Opened windows for a clearer view. The evening breeze was cool, which was a bonus. The fireworks were beautifully synchronized. They were dancing in the air! The choreography was breathtaking… fantastic. I couldn’t explain how I felt or how beautiful the view was with words while I watched.

The ending blew me away. There were at least four large golden firework displays in the sky while golden sparks shot up like water from a lawn water sprinkler. THE VIEW WAS REALLY PRETTY AND SHINY, OKAY. And it all ended in one loud BOOM.

I love fireworks, honestly. Funny thing, though, that I was afraid of them the first time I saw such a display. I thought the sparks shot in the air were tiny shiny rockets designed to fall on the ground to cause explosions or fire. But, nah, just metal. (segue: click this link that leads to one of my favorite Compound Interest articles, which is about – you guessed it! – FIREWORKS!)

Like I said, I am a sucker for fireworks. I just… like the way they brighten the night sky with bright, neon colored lights (especially violet fireworks!). I enjoy them even more when I watch them with my parents or with people I love being with. In fact, I am a fan of the fireworks cliche in romance stories or movies, and I am not one for common cliches. I’m glad I was able to watch the fireworks show of the Sports Center tonight. It was way better than last year’s! I hope that next year’s show would be even better, and that I would be able to watch it with my parents again (or with, if I manage to get one, my boyfriend! Kidding!). I would gladly post the video I took, but I made too many squealing noises while watching… so the video would just embarrass me. BUT HERE’S A PICTURE:

The fireworks display outside my window as the show moves into its finale.

Thanks to tumblr, I stumbled upon a gem in the form of a Japanese animation film, Tokyo Godfathers, created by Satoshi Kon and released in 2003. The poster (and the post’s timing) was enough to tell me it took place during Christmas, and I was fascinated by the set of characters.

The movie poster of “Tokyo Godfathers.”

The movie introduces three homeless people: Gin, a middle-aged alcoholic, Hana (or Uncle Bag, as Miyuki calls Hana), a trans woman, and Miyuki, a runaway teenager. On Christmas Eve, they find an abandoned baby girl after rummaging through trash. Hana immediately grabs the chance to take care of her while the other two insist that they report about this to a police station. They allow themselves to keep the baby, whom Hana named Kiyoko (Kiyo for pure as they “found her in the purest of nights,” according to Hana), for one night, but they eventually plan to return Kiyoko to her real mother instead of head to the police station.

What made me enjoy this movie was the way the three interacted with each other and with other people. Gin has the tendency to be grumpy, hungry, and sometimes pessimistic, especially when drunk, but he is a kind man who obviously cares for Hana and Miyuki, seeing as they are his family after he lost his first one. Hana is hilarious! She is very expressive and dramatic, a brilliant flair to her character despite her hard past. She is loving to a fault as well, seeing as how she tries to keep Gin and Miyuki at bay, but fails in her attempts to mother hen them (and a spoiler: Hana makes the best faces in the entire movie). Miyuki doesn’t put into words about her feelings about her dysfunctional family, but her actions tell her story. They are an unlikely trio, and all their back stories were clearly elaborated in the movie, which allows viewers to sympathize with them more.

The movie revolves around the concept of miracles (as well as love and family), which brings about intertwined situations that ultimately lead to their goal (and safety, thank goodness). It is quite a great way to set up a Christmas-y vibe apart from the snow and decorations. Tokyo Godfathers also stresses how parents care or should care for their children, and how throwing babies away is throwing blessings away. The animation is fantastic, and the details of the the characters’ facial expressions and movements emphasize the development of the story being told. It has topnotch comedy, but some moments may catch you off guard. It is, however, labeled as a PG-13 movie for situations that include violence and brief but minor nudity.

My favorite lines were mostly from Hana during her melodramatic moments that involve love. One that had me cracking is from Gin to Hana, though.

“Okay, so I’m trash. But you’re ugly.”

It kind of gives away what kind of banters the two have.

Another is from Hana to Miyuki after the latter spouts a rude statement.

“‘Shit,’ I’ll take, but ‘fart,’ I won’t!”

I’m glad to have found this movie, especially since I haven’t finished downloading Home Alone and Home Alone II for Christmas viewing with my family. It made me laugh (always a good factor) and it moved me. It shows how strong familial bonds are, even with people who aren’t biologically related. A part of the movie where Miyuki sees Gin and Hana as her family made me remember the friends I have that I practically consider as family. And Christmas always reminds me of how real miracles are, but that doesn’t mean I get tired of being reminded.

And now, some gifs from the movie!

Miyuki hitting Gin with a book as Hana searches for presents.Gin: WTH?!Hana playing peek-a-boo with Kiyoko.

And so I decided to chronicle parts of my life again in a blog. Whoop-de-doo.

First semester has finally ended, and now I realized how stressing it is to be a college student who used to underestimate naps and sleeping in general back in high school.

Thank goodness it’s finally our semester break! I can finally try to beat my record of 16 hours of sleep. Also thinking what productive things I could do before the next semester starts. I’m pretty sure I’m going to update my fanfics on AO3 (although finishing them immediately will be a challenge) and play videogames. And since my electric guitar is back from the dead, I’ll probably spend more time with it before we part again. The urge to play Fall Out Boy songs is strong within me.

But one thing’s for sure – I’m going to spend less time in Facebook and more time in Yahoo! Messenger. Some of my close friends and I decided to return to the mother of Filipino-favored chatting programs because logging on to Facebook just to chat is exhausting (especially if the same people post the same things every second).